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Sophia Almon Hensley
by George J. Dance Sophia Margaretta Almon Hensley (May 31, 1856 - February 10, 1946) was a Canadian poet and journalist. The Dictionary of Literary Biography says of her: "Her periodical contributions consolidated her reputation in the 1880's and 1890's, and her essays and books on feminism and social issues brought her to the attention of both Canadian and American audiences.""Sophie Almon Hensley," Dictionary of Literary Biography, Thomson-Gale 2005-2006, BookRags.com, Web, July 29, 2012. Life Sophia Almon was born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, to Sarah Frances (DeWolf) and Rev. Henry Prior Almon. Homeschooled by a governess, she was later educated at St. Monica's School in Warminster, Warwickshire, England, and Miss Watson's School in Paris. After graduation she lived in Windsor, Nova Scotia, with her parents. She became a protege of Charles G.D. Roberts, then teaching at King's College, Windsor. Roberts wrote a poem to her, "To S-M", which appears in his volume In Divers Tones; he also encouraged her to publish her own poetry. She began contributing poems, first to the King's College Record, and then to magazines such as The Current and the Dominion Illustrated Monthly. In 1889 she published her first collection of poetry, Poems, and married Halifax lawyer Hubert Arthur Hensley. In 1890 the Hensleys moved to New York City, where Hubert Hensley became general manager of an investment banking group. Sophia Hensley became active in feminist and child welfare causes, as a member of the Society for Political Study, co-founder of the New York City Mothers' Club, secretary of the New York State Assembly of Mothers, and founder of the Society for the Study of Life. She had 3 children, Emily (born 1891), Dorothy (1894), and Edmund (1895). She also became a member of the New York Press Club, and an assistant editor of Health magazine. In addition, she continued to write and publish verse, and a novelette as well. The Hensleys also collaborated on a musical play. Hensley moved to the Channel Island of Jersey in 1937, but lost her home when the Nazis occupied the island in 1940. She returned to Nova Scotia, where she died in 1946. Writing Dominion Illustrated Monthly: "Miss Almon gives us her impressions of the actual sights and sounds of the glorious world, so fair, yet so sad — not transcripts, more or less modified of the impressions of others, or fancy sketches of what her own impressions should or might be, in certain circumstances. She thus makes loyalty to truth the basis of her work."Wanda Campbell, "Sophia Almon Hensley, Hidden Rooms (Canadian Poetry Press, 2000), 270-272, Canadian Poetry, Web, July 29, 2012. Publications Poetry * Poems (by "Sophie M. Almon"). Windsor, NS: privately published, printed by J.J. Anslow, 1889. * A Woman's Love Letters. New York: J. Selwyn Tait, 1895. * Out of the Silence. Westwood, MA: Ariel Press, 1900? * The Heart of a Woman. London, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1906. * The Way of a Woman, and other poems. San Diego, CA: Canterbury, 1928. Plays * Princess Mignon: a musical play in three acts (as Almon Hensley, with Hubert Hensley), 1900. Fiction * Love and Company (Limited) (as "John Wernberny & Another"), 1897. ** (as "J. Try-Davies & Mary Woolston"). Montreal: W.F. Brown, 1901. * A Semi-Detached House, and other stories (as "J. Try-Davies"; illustrated by Robert Harris). Montreal: Lovell, 1900. * The Lost Sard, unpublished novel (listed in Who's Who, 1904). Non-Fiction * Historical Sketch of Boisbriant. Montreal?, 189-?. * Woman and the Race ("as Gordon Hart"). Westwood, MA: Ariel Press, 1907. * Love and the Woman of Tomorrow. London: Drane's Danegeld House, 1913. Anthologized * Theodore Harding Rand, A Treasury of Canadian Verse. Toronto: William Briggs, 1900. * Lawrence J. Burpee, A Century of Canadian Sonnets, Toronto: Musson, 1910. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Simon Fraser UniversityHensley, Sophia Margaretta Almon, Canada's Early Women Writers, Simon Fraser University Library, SFU.ca, Web, July 29, 2012.'' and WorldCat.Search results=Sophia Almon Hensley, WorldCat, Web, July 29, 2012. See also * List of Canadian poets *Timeline of Canadian poetry References External links ;Poems * "Rondeau: When Summer Comes" *"Because of You" * "An Evening in October" * Sophia Almon Hansley in ''Hidden Rooms: biography and 19 poems ;Books * ;About *Sophia Margaretta Almon Hensley at Canada's Early Women Writers. * Sophie Almon Hensley in the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Category:1856 births Category:1946 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:People from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia